Published on April 01, 2010 Should I use clip art in my business?
Let’s face it. Clip art is just so convenient! It’s easy to find on the Internet and it’s often free. Are you on to a winner? Should you use clip art in your business cards, logo, flyers, content pages and brochures?
NO! NO! NO!
Just in case you didn’t get that – that’s a no!
If it’s so easy to use and so readily available why shouldn’t clip art be used in your business images? There are two main reasons why – the first is a marketing reason and the second is a legal one.
Everyone else is using clip art
If you’re trying to build a unique brand and establish a position in the market against competitors that may have hundreds or thousands of dollars more money than you, using clip art can hurt you more than it can help. Your customers probably have the same clipart on their home computers and have used the same pictures for local flyers for their school fair or community event. Even if you think they don’t, people judge you on first impressions and you are often better off using no imagery or a plain clean look than garish clip art in your business brochures. What works for the school fair often does not help you sell your products.
You can’t trademark clip art
If your business takes off and you want to protect it against competitors, if you are using royalty free images or clip art to represent your business to the world you will be rejected when it comes to applying for a trade mark. Trade marks rely on uniqueness so part of the trademark approval process will be a check that you own the original rights to graphics or images used.
What’s more, if you use an image of a person and your business takes off that person becomes the face of your brand. So what happens if your competitors start using that image? Or someone else in another (or the same) industry with a tarnished reputation starts using that exact same image? It could end up hurting you or creating confusion in the market as people believe you are that business.
It usually pays to take a little bit of extra time and spend some money on a unique logo, and staying well clear of clip art.
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